Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and team president and CEO Sam Kennedy met with reporters over a video call on Monday night to address Sunday’s surprising trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
Both executives repeatedly emphasized that the team “couldn’t find alignment” with Devers on his future role and the best direction going forward.
“We worked at it, we had a different vision for him going forward than he had,” Kennedy said. “What we felt we needed from him that would be in the best interest of the ball club.”
Breslow explained that Devers and his representation did not formally request a trade. But during conversations regarding a move to designated hitter and a possible position change to first base, Devers’ people indicated that perhaps a fresh start elsewhere might be best.
Additionally, Breslow declined to specify whether or not the Red Sox talked to any other MLB teams about a potential Devers trade. However, he indicated that conversations with various front offices provided an idea of what might be attainable in such a deal.
Yet Breslow acknowledged that he frequently asked himself if the situation with Devers could have gone better if he’d addressed a possible position change during the offseason. He added that he hopes the next time such a situation arises, he can manage it differently before relations deteriorate.
“I need to own the things that I could have done better,” he said.
Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and team president and CEO Sam Kennedy met with reporters over a video call on Monday night to address Sunday’s surprising trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
Both executives repeatedly emphasized that the team “couldn’t find alignment” with Devers on his future role and the best direction going forward.
“We worked at it, we had a different vision for him going forward than he had,” Kennedy said. “What we felt we needed from him that would be in the best interest of the ball club.”
Breslow explained that Devers and his representation did not formally request a trade. But during conversations regarding a move to designated hitter and a possible position change to first base, Devers’ people indicated that perhaps a fresh start elsewhere might be best.
Additionally, Breslow declined to specify whether or not the Red Sox talked to any other MLB teams about a potential Devers trade. However, he indicated that conversations with various front offices provided an idea of what might be attainable in such a deal.
Yet Breslow acknowledged that he frequently asked himself if the situation with Devers could have gone better if he’d addressed a possible position change during the offseason. He added that he hopes the next time such a situation arises, he can manage it differently before relations deteriorate.
“I need to own the things that I could have done better,” he said.
Texas A&M’s success recruiting elite offensive linemen has been mightly impressive under head coach Mike Elko and O-line coach Adam Cushing, who recently signed six offensive linemen in the 2025 recruiting cycle aren’t slowing down, as 2026 four-star offensive tackle Samuel Roseborough committed to the Aggies on Monday night.
Florida had been a recruiting pipeline for former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher and has been re-established under Elko after beating out Florida State and the Texas Longhorns for the standout blocker, who has played both ways during his last two seasons as a defensive lineman.
Playing primarily as right tackle during his 2024 junior season, Roseborough has continued to improve as a pass protector and has been a difference-maker in the run game. Again, beasting out Florida State for a player from Clearwater (FL) while out-recruiting Texas, who has also dominated in O-line recruiting under coach Steve Sarkisian, is highly notable.
Standing at 6-4 and 185 pounds, Roseborough will likely shift inside at either right or left guard at the next level, and due to his elite run-blocking skillset, this should be a seamless transition. Roseborough is the first offensive line commit in Texas A&M’s 2026 class, and likely won’t be the last.
According to 247Sports Composite, Roseborough is currently positioned as the 142nd-ranked prospect in the 2026 class, the 8th-ranked interior offensive lineman, and the 17th-ranked prospect in Florida.
BREAKING: Four-Star OT Samuel Roseborough has Committed to Texas A&M, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’5 295 OT from Clearwater, FL chose the Aggies over Texas, FSU, & Ohio State
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
Featured in this week’s MLB Power Rankings, the tremors of a shocking blockbuster trade, a Contreras brothers showdown, familiar faces return for the Yankees and Mariners, another rapid ascension for an Angels prospect, and the best catch of the young season.
(Please note these power rankings are a combination of current performance and long-term projected outlook)
Note: Rankings are from the afternoon of Monday, June 16.
1) Detroit Tigers
Last week: 1
Riley Greene homered and knocked in four runs in Friday’s win over the Reds and now boasts 49 RBI for the season. He’s currently on pace to be the first Tigers player to drive in 100 runs since Nick Castellanos in 2017. That’s a long time!
2) New York Mets
Last week: 2
Swept by the Rays over the weekend and missing Kodai Senga with a hamstring strain. This week, the Mets will begin an important 10-game stretch where they’ll play the Braves seven times and the second-place Phillies three times.
3) Chicago Cubs
Last week: 3
The Cubs’ bullpen has a 0.93 ERA over the last 30 days. Ryan Pressly has turned his season around in this timespan with a spotless ERA to go along with a 11/2 K/BB ratio in 12 2/3 innings. Daniel Palencia has emerged as a late-inning arm and Porter Hodge is making his way back from injury, so the Cubs’ bullpen is likely to remain a strength.
4) Los Angeles Dodgers ⬆️
Last week: 5
The Dodgers won two out of three against the Giants over the weekend, including a throwback performance from Clayton Kershaw. Now they’ll get Shohei Ohtani back on the mound to begin the week. It remains to be seen how far they’ll push him initially, but it’s a big boost for a depleted rotation.
5) New York Yankees ⬇️
Last week: 4
What will the Yankees get out of Giancarlo Stanton? The 35-year-old has been out season due to epicondylitis in both of his elbows, but he checked out fine during a brief minor league rehab assignment while going 3-for-11 (.273) with one double, four RBI, and one walk over three games in Double-A. His return means that the Yankees will have to get creative about giving Ben Rice at-bats.
6) Philadelphia Phillies ⬆️
Last week: 8
Winners of four straight, the Phillies are set to take on the Marlins in Miami for four games before a huge weekend series against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Jesus Luzardo is set to pitch twice this week after an encouraging return to form last week against the Cubs last Wednesday.
7) San Francisco Giants
Last week: 7
I’ll be honest: Until now, I’ve been a bit skeptical about the Giants’ staying power in our Top-10, but their stunner of a trade for slugger Rafael Devers changes all of that. It’s a franchise-altering move, and one which makes the Giants a team built to last in the National League playoff race. Well done, Buster Posey.
The Astros are still rising and falling with Jose Altuve. The 35-year-old is hitting .297 with six homers and an .827 OPS over his last 35 games. The Astros have gone 23-12 in that time to surge into first place in the AL West.
9) San Diego Padres ⬇️
Last week: 6
Jackson Merrill has already missed time this season due to a right hamstring strain, but now he’s facing another absence due to a concussion from a tag from Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte on Saturday night.
Jackson Merrill is down with an apparent injury after attempting to steal second base pic.twitter.com/SobemA1T8l
A steady riser in our ranks, the Rays have 18 out of their last 24 games, including a sweep against the Mets at Citi Field this past weekend. Jonathan Aranda might be the best hitter that the public-at-large doesn’t know about. He’s tied for second in the AL in-base percentage (.411) and fifth among qualified AL hitters with a .902 OPS.
11) Toronto Blue Jays ⬆️
Last week: 12
Alejandro Kirk is second in the majors with a .371 batting average dating back to the start of May.
12) Milwaukee Brewers ⬆️
Last week: 14
Jacob Misiorowski lived up to the hype in his major league debut last week, tossing five no-hit innings before leaving due to cramping in his right calf and quadriceps. Fortunately for the Brewers, the rookie fireballer checked out fine and should be ready to face the Cubs in his second career start on Wednesday.
MUST SEE: Jacob Misiorowski’s first three pitches to start his Major League career:
The Mariners have faded in our rankings, but they swept the Guardians over the weekend and will get their ace Logan Gilbert back on Monday against the Red Sox.
14) St. Louis Cardinals ⬇️
Last week: 10
Everything you can do, I can do better. On the eve of Father’s Day, Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras and his brother Brewers catcher William Contreraseach hit home runs in the same inning.
Josh and Bo Naylor did the same thing last April, but the Contreras brothers are the first to do it as opponents since 1933. Great tidbit here by Sarah Langs.
Willson and William Contreras are the second pair of brothers to homer in the same inning as opponents since 1900, joining:
7/19/1933 Rick (BOS) & Wes (CLE) Ferrell (Rick’s HR was OFF Wes!)
The Reds have won seven out of their last 10 games and Elly De La Cruz begins the week with a four-game home run streak.
16) Boston Red Sox ⬆️
Last week: 19
Trading a player who is in his prime and ranks among the league leaders in RBI is something we rarely (if ever) see, especially for a team who fancies themselves as a contender, but the Red Sox apparently think that getting Rafael Devers out of their clubhouse (and off their payroll) will pay off in the end. It’s a bold take for a lot of reasons, including the fact that the Red Sox are playing their best baseball of late.
17) Minnesota Twins ⬇️
Last week: 13
Byron Buxton launched a 479-foot home run against the Rangers last Wednesday. Only Mike Trout (484 feet on April 19) has hit a longer home run this season.
Pickle Power! Kumar Rocker had his best start in the majors to date on Sunday with five scoreless innings against the White Sox, apparently aided by multiple shots of pickle juice.
I smell an endorsement in Kumar Rocker’s future. And pickles.
19) Arizona Diamondbacks ⬆️
Last week: 21
We noted last week that the Diamondbacks were probably in trouble after losing Corbin Burnes due to Tommy John surgery. It’s still not looking great, but they won five straight before dropping the series finale against the Padres on Sunday.
20) Atlanta Braves ⬆️
Last week: 24
The Braves somehow lost to the Rockies on Sunday despite Grant Holmes striking out 15 batters, but still there’s some momentum with this team over the past week. They have a chance to make a move in the NL East with seven out of their next 10 games coming against the first-place Mets.
21) Cleveland Guardians ⬇️
Last week: 15
With six wins in their last 19 games — and one of the worst offenses in the majors — It’s increasingly likely that the Guardians may use this summer as a testing ground for some of their young position players.
22) Kansas City Royals ⬇️
Last week: 17
Six straight losses and what looks to be a long-term absence for ace left-hander Cole Ragans as he tries to get answers on his shoulder injury. It’s not good.
23) Los Angeles Angels ⬇️
Last week: 22
Give the Angels some credit; they are nothing if not consistent. Christian Moore made his way to the majors last Friday after being selected 8th overall in last year’s draft. This follows a long line of fast-rising prospects with the Angels in recent years, including fellow infielders Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto. Angels fans hope this trio will be together for a long time.
24) Baltimore Orioles ⬆️
Last week: 25
Dare I say that the Orioles have been playing better recently? Since falling 17 games under .500 on May 28, the Orioles are 11-4. They still have quite a hill to climb, but it’s been nice to see Gunnar Henderson start to take off.
25) Washington Nationals ⬇️
Last week: 23
Losers of eight straight, the Nationals have called up top prospect third baseman Brady House. The 22-year-old has seen his ups and downs since being selected No. 11 overall in 2021, but he was hitting .304/.353/.519 with 13 homers over 65 games in Triple-A this season. He’s set to take over the starting third base gig in Washington.
26) Miami Marlins ⬆️
Last week: 28
The Marlins were one of nine teams (!) to sweep a three-game series over the weekend, as they took down the fading Nationals. Dane Myers went 8-for-13 with a homer, three RBI, and two runs scored during the season as his unexpected breakout continues. Why is this dude still batting ninth sometimes?
27) Athletics
Last week: 27
I could say something else here, but what’s the point? Rookie Denzel Clarke made the best catch of the year last week and we should take a moment here to watch it all over again. Join me, friends.
The White Sox turned the page on Andrew Vaughn last week by trading him to the Brewers for right-hander Aaron Civale. A former top prospect, Vaughn has regressed in recent years and was hitting .189 with a .531 OPS through 48 games this season. While Vaughn’s handling was likely botched in the first place, both sides are probably better off apart.
30) Colorado Rockies
Last week: 30
The Rockies are red hot! Or lukewarm, at least. After going 6-33 to begin the year, they’ve won five out of their last 12 games. As Bill Murray’s character in “What About Bob?” said, baby steps.
BOSTON — Two hours before he was part of the season’s most surprising trade, Rafael Devers stood in the center of the Red Sox clubhouse, meeting the media after the team’s three-game sweep of the Yankees. Reporters asked him how he felt about the drama that had defined the early part of his 2025 season.
“That has passed,” he said through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez.
In a way, it had. Just not in the way he meant.
The deal — which sent Devers to the Giants in exchange for left-hander Kyle Harrison, reliever Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and rookie pitcher Jose Bello — was about more than a positional dispute or locker room tension. It wasn’t the result of a trade demand or a front office trying to shed salary. It was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of baseball’s most visible franchises.
Across Boston, the mood is unmistakable. Fans who were told to buy into a long-term plan are watching the team punt on another star they were told would be part of it. It’s impossible not to feel echoes of Mookie Betts — another homegrown star, dealt away during his prime, for reasons that were more financial and philosophical than baseball. The details are different, but the message feels familiar: When things get uncomfortable, the Red Sox flinch.
This past weekend, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in three straight. The ballpark was packed. The team seemed to be gaining real momentum. Then, without warning, they traded the face of the franchise. The front office might see that as bold, but to the fan base, it’s just another betrayal.
‘I’m not certain what [issue] he has with me’
This all started back in February, when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman — another All-Star third baseman. At his first news conference of the season, Devers told reporters that the team had assured him third base was still his. Then they handed Bregman the job. Devers, the last remaining member of Boston’s 2018 World Series team, had signed a 10-year, $313.5 million extension in 2023 with the expectation that he’d be treated like a franchise player. Instead, he felt misled. He believed chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had gone back on his word.
A month later, Devers met with Breslow and manager Alex Cora to air things out. The conversation seemed productive. Devers said he was “good to do whatever they want me to do.” But the détente didn’t last. When Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury on May 2, the Red Sox asked Devers to move to first base. He refused.
“I know I’m a ballplayer, but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there,” Devers said through team interpreter Daveson Perez.
The frustration simmered. Inside the front office, sources say patience wore thin. Devers didn’t want to play a single inning at first base. And when asked about Breslow, his response was telling.
“I’m not certain what [issue] he has with me,” Devers said in May of Breslow, who played 12 seasons in the majors from 2005 through 2017. “He played ball, and I would like to think that he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy.”
The standoff escalated as team owner John Henry flew to Kansas City alongside team president Sam Kennedy and Breslow to meet with Devers in person. Their conversation was private, but Devers returned to the lineup as the designated hitter, still unwilling to move.
The tension finally broke on Sunday. Hours after hitting a home run in a sweep-clinching victory, Devers was traded to San Francisco. The Giants will cover the remainder of Devers’ contract — more than $250 million through 2033.
Devers didn’t demand a trade, according to multiple team sources, but he communicated that he would be OK with one. The team didn’t shop him either, per ESPN’s Buster Olney, but listened to offers. Ultimately, none of that really mattered. The relationship had eroded past the point of repair.
What happened Sunday — the trade, the scramble, the silence that followed — represents just the latest fracture for a franchise quietly splintering behind the scenes. The Devers saga wasn’t just about positional conflict or clubhouse drama. It was a symptom of something deeper: a Red Sox organization that has lost its alignment, its patience and maybe even its identity.
Signs of a front office losing cohesion
The tension inside Fenway Park isn’t new. It has just evolved.
Manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow have not seen eye-to-eye on the direction of the team. Cora wants to win now. Breslow, like Chaim Bloom before him, was hired to build a sustainable future. The last time Cora found himself misaligned with the head of baseball ops, Bloom was fired. Breslow arrived shortly after and re-signed Cora to a three-year contract through the 2027 season that pays him $7 million annually. After the Red Sox finished 81-81 and out of the playoffs in 2024, Breslow’s first season at the helm, the team went out and acquired ace pitcher Garrett Crochet and Bregman, signaling a shift back toward contention. Owner John Henry celebrated with a cigar.
Even then, Cora wasn’t fully on board with how the front office wanted to manage the roster and player development. This season, Cora has managed like someone who knows his legacy is on the line, leaning into experience over upside, even when it conflicts with the long-term plan. He benched top prospects and left-handed sluggers Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony against left-handed pitching, despite their strong minor league splits, opting for veteran right-handed bats in Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez. The choice underscored the ongoing friction: Cora’s focus on winning now clashing with a front office preaching sustainable growth.
“This team is supposed to play better baseball and be in the hunt. We’re not there yet,” Cora said last week. “My job is to try to maximize matchups and help win games. We haven’t done that.”
Meanwhile, Breslow has grown increasingly insulated. Multiple sources within the organization describe a front office losing cohesion. Staffers who helped build four championship teams — veterans of the Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski and Bloom regimes — now feel shut out of the operation. The collaborative spirit that once defined Red Sox baseball operations has frayed.
The discontent intensified in May 2024, when Breslow brought in sports consulting firm Sportsology to conduct an organizational audit. The stated purpose was to streamline baseball operations. In practice, it triggered a wave of firings and accelerated the marginalization of some of the longest-tenured voices in the building, characterizing the cultural shift to align more with Wall Street efficiency.
One of the clearest signals came during an internal team Zoom meeting earlier this season. Toward the end, Carl Moesche — the Red Sox’s scouting supervisor and a team employee since 2017 — thought the call had ended. It hadn’t. As the meeting wrapped, his voice cut through a quiet moment.
“Thanks, Bres, you f***ing stiff,” Moesche said, according to two team sources.
The words landed like a grenade, and Breslow fired Moesche.
Moesche did not respond to a request for comment.
The blockbuster trade of Rafael Devers was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of baseball’s most visible franchises. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports
Dysfunction on the field and hands-off ownership
The internal strain has bled into how the Red Sox handle their players, too.
The coaching staff has grown frustrated with the state of player development, specifically how much emphasis is placed on swing mechanics and hitting data, often at the expense of fundamentals. That imbalance, coaches believe, traces back to the Bloom era and has only accelerated under Breslow. One example cited is rookie Kristian Campbell, who has made a string of routine errors at second base since being called up. He’s not alone; as a team, the Red Sox lead all of baseball with 64 errors, one more than the Colorado Rockies and 17 more than the third-place Los Angeles Angels.
Another error came during Roman Anthony’s debut, when he misplayed a ball in right field. The next day, Anthony was sent out to run outfield drills in front of the media. Multiple people in the organization noted that under previous regimes, that kind of instruction would’ve taken place behind closed doors. This time, it felt like a message from the coaching staff to the front office. One team source described the message as deliberate: “This is what we still have to teach, at the big-league level.”
Ownership, meanwhile, has grown increasingly hands-off. Since Epstein’s tenure, Red Sox owners have often acted as active stewards of baseball operations — meddling at times but always deeply invested. But now, multiple sources say there’s a growing sense that John Henry delegates the day-to-day operations of the Red Sox to team president Sam Kennedy. That detachment has created an opening for divergent priorities across Fenway Sports Group’s portfolio. Case in point: Just days before the Devers trade, FSG made headlines in England by spending a record £116 million ($157.7 million) on German star Florian Wirtz at Liverpool. Meanwhile, in Boston, they were preparing to offload their franchise star.
The optics are staggering. On a picturesque Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox swept the Yankees. Hours later, they traded Devers. No farewell. Just silence. One staffer described the situation as “an absolute s*** show.”
Kennedy, Breslow and Cora did not respond to requests for comment.
For a franchise that once set the standard for modern baseball operations, dysfunction has become the new normal.
Where do the Red Sox go from here?
The Red Sox believe their blockbuster trade represents a clean break from a contract they no longer believe in. Devers, for all his production, hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 homers and 2.2 bWAR this season, was stubborn. He resisted stepping into a leadership role. After Xander Bogaerts left in 2023, Cora clearly wanted Devers to fill the void. When I asked Devers about it back then, he was honest: “I don’t really see myself too much as a leader right now.” That reluctance never really changed.
But to reduce this entire saga to Devers’ shortcomings is to miss the point. His unwillingness to move to first base wasn’t just a personal decision. It was a reaction to a team that no longer made sense around him.
Inside the clubhouse, players watched as the coaching staff publicly flagged Roman Anthony’s defensive fundamentals as a slight to the front office. They saw teammates asked to switch positions on the fly. They witnessed Cora trying to win baseball games while benching the team’s top prospects. In the front office, scouts were fired over slights, veteran leaders with deep organizational trust were iced out, and the communication from Breslow dried up. According to multiple sources, Devers was also upset when the rookie Campbell volunteered to play first base this season — interpreting it as a slight to his own stature.
In the end, though, Devers was still hitting and was ready to move past the early-season drama. Breslow saw things differently, saw the slugger as a problem that needed to be solved. For him, the trust was gone. And now, so is Devers.
Maybe this will work out for the Red Sox. Maybe Kyle Harrison becomes an ace, Jordan Hicks finds another gear and James Tibbs III turns into an every-day outfielder. But in the hours since the trade, that possibility has felt secondary to what it revealed: A franchise that claims to be building something stable keeps unraveling when the pressure rises.
BOSTON — Two hours before he was part of the season’s most surprising trade, Rafael Devers stood in the center of the Red Sox clubhouse, meeting the media after the team’s three-game sweep of the Yankees. Reporters asked him how he felt about the drama that had defined the early part of his 2025 season.
“That has passed,” he said through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez.
In a way, it had. Just not in the way he meant.
The deal — which sent Devers to the Giants in exchange for left-hander Kyle Harrison, reliever Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and rookie pitcher Jose Bello — was about more than a positional dispute or locker room tension. It wasn’t the result of a trade demand or a front office trying to shed salary. It was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of baseball’s most visible franchises.
Across Boston, the mood is unmistakable. Fans who were told to buy into a long-term plan are watching the team punt on another star they were told would be part of it. It’s impossible not to feel echoes of Mookie Betts — another homegrown star, dealt away during his prime, for reasons that were more financial and philosophical than baseball. The details are different, but the message feels familiar: When things get uncomfortable, the Red Sox flinch.
This past weekend, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in three straight. The ballpark was packed. The team seemed to be gaining real momentum. Then, without warning, they traded the face of the franchise. The front office might see that as bold, but to the fan base, it’s just another betrayal.
‘I’m not certain what [issue] he has with me’
This all started back in February, when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman — another All-Star third baseman. At his first news conference of the season, Devers told reporters that the team had assured him third base was still his. Then they handed Bregman the job. Devers, the last remaining member of Boston’s 2018 World Series team, had signed a 10-year, $313.5 million extension in 2023 with the expectation that he’d be treated like a franchise player. Instead, he felt misled. He believed chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had gone back on his word.
A month later, Devers met with Breslow and manager Alex Cora to air things out. The conversation seemed productive. Devers said he was “good to do whatever they want me to do.” But the détente didn’t last. When Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury on May 2, the Red Sox asked Devers to move to first base. He refused.
“I know I’m a ballplayer, but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there,” Devers said through team interpreter Daveson Perez.
The frustration simmered. Inside the front office, sources say patience wore thin. Devers didn’t want to play a single inning at first base. And when asked about Breslow, his response was telling.
“I’m not certain what [issue] he has with me,” Devers said in May of Breslow, who played 12 seasons in the majors from 2005 through 2017. “He played ball, and I would like to think that he knows that changing positions like that isn’t easy.”
The standoff escalated as team owner John Henry flew to Kansas City alongside team president Sam Kennedy and Breslow to meet with Devers in person. Their conversation was private, but Devers returned to the lineup as the designated hitter, still unwilling to move.
The tension finally broke on Sunday. Hours after hitting a home run in a sweep-clinching victory, Devers was traded to San Francisco. The Giants will cover the remainder of Devers’ contract — more than $250 million through 2033.
Devers didn’t demand a trade, according to multiple team sources, but he communicated that he would be OK with one. The team didn’t shop him either, per ESPN’s Buster Olney, but listened to offers. Ultimately, none of that really mattered. The relationship had eroded past the point of repair.
What happened Sunday — the trade, the scramble, the silence that followed — represents just the latest fracture for a franchise quietly splintering behind the scenes. The Devers saga wasn’t just about positional conflict or clubhouse drama. It was a symptom of something deeper: a Red Sox organization that has lost its alignment, its patience and maybe even its identity.
Signs of a front office losing cohesion
The tension inside Fenway Park isn’t new. It has just evolved.
Manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow have not seen eye-to-eye on the direction of the team. Cora wants to win now. Breslow, like Chaim Bloom before him, was hired to build a sustainable future. The last time Cora found himself misaligned with the head of baseball ops, Bloom was fired. Breslow arrived shortly after and re-signed Cora to a three-year contract through the 2027 season that pays him $7 million annually. After the Red Sox finished 81-81 and out of the playoffs in 2024, Breslow’s first season at the helm, the team went out and acquired ace pitcher Garrett Crochet and Bregman, signaling a shift back toward contention. Owner John Henry celebrated with a cigar.
Even then, Cora wasn’t fully on board with how the front office wanted to manage the roster and player development. This season, Cora has managed like someone who knows his legacy is on the line, leaning into experience over upside, even when it conflicts with the long-term plan. He benched top prospects and left-handed sluggers Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony against left-handed pitching, despite their strong minor league splits, opting for veteran right-handed bats in Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez. The choice underscored the ongoing friction: Cora’s focus on winning now clashing with a front office preaching sustainable growth.
“This team is supposed to play better baseball and be in the hunt. We’re not there yet,” Cora said last week. “My job is to try to maximize matchups and help win games. We haven’t done that.”
Meanwhile, Breslow has grown increasingly insulated. Multiple sources within the organization describe a front office losing cohesion. Staffers who helped build four championship teams — veterans of the Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski and Bloom regimes — now feel shut out of the operation. The collaborative spirit that once defined Red Sox baseball operations has frayed.
The discontent intensified in May 2024, when Breslow brought in sports consulting firm Sportsology to conduct an organizational audit. The stated purpose was to streamline baseball operations. In practice, it triggered a wave of firings and accelerated the marginalization of some of the longest-tenured voices in the building, characterizing the cultural shift to align more with Wall Street efficiency.
One of the clearest signals came during an internal team Zoom meeting earlier this season. Toward the end, Carl Moesche — the Red Sox’s scouting supervisor and a team employee since 2017 — thought the call had ended. It hadn’t. As the meeting wrapped, his voice cut through a quiet moment.
“Thanks, Bres, you f***ing stiff,” Moesche said, according to two team sources.
The words landed like a grenade, and Breslow fired Moesche.
Moesche did not respond to a request for comment.
The blockbuster trade of Rafael Devers was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of baseball’s most visible franchises. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports
Dysfunction on the field and hands-off ownership
The internal strain has bled into how the Red Sox handle their players, too.
The coaching staff has grown frustrated with the state of player development, specifically how much emphasis is placed on swing mechanics and hitting data, often at the expense of fundamentals. That imbalance, coaches believe, traces back to the Bloom era and has only accelerated under Breslow. One example cited is rookie Kristian Campbell, who has made a string of routine errors at second base since being called up. He’s not alone; as a team, the Red Sox lead all of baseball with 64 errors, one more than the Colorado Rockies and 17 more than the third-place Los Angeles Angels.
Another error came during Roman Anthony’s debut, when he misplayed a ball in right field. The next day, Anthony was sent out to run outfield drills in front of the media. Multiple people in the organization noted that under previous regimes, that kind of instruction would’ve taken place behind closed doors. This time, it felt like a message from the coaching staff to the front office. One team source described the message as deliberate: “This is what we still have to teach, at the big-league level.”
Ownership, meanwhile, has grown increasingly hands-off. Since Epstein’s tenure, Red Sox owners have often acted as active stewards of baseball operations — meddling at times but always deeply invested. But now, multiple sources say there’s a growing sense that John Henry delegates the day-to-day operations of the Red Sox to team president Sam Kennedy. That detachment has created an opening for divergent priorities across Fenway Sports Group’s portfolio. Case in point: Just days before the Devers trade, FSG made headlines in England by spending a record £116 million ($157.7 million) on German star Florian Wirtz at Liverpool. Meanwhile, in Boston, they were preparing to offload their franchise star.
The optics are staggering. On a picturesque Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox swept the Yankees. Hours later, they traded Devers. No farewell. Just silence. One staffer described the situation as “an absolute s*** show.”
Kennedy, Breslow and Cora did not respond to requests for comment.
For a franchise that once set the standard for modern baseball operations, dysfunction has become the new normal.
Where do the Red Sox go from here?
The Red Sox believe their blockbuster trade represents a clean break from a contract they no longer believe in. Devers, for all his production, hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 homers and 2.2 bWAR this season, was stubborn. He resisted stepping into a leadership role. After Xander Bogaerts left in 2023, Cora clearly wanted Devers to fill the void. When I asked Devers about it back then, he was honest: “I don’t really see myself too much as a leader right now.” That reluctance never really changed.
But to reduce this entire saga to Devers’ shortcomings is to miss the point. His unwillingness to move to first base wasn’t just a personal decision. It was a reaction to a team that no longer made sense around him.
Inside the clubhouse, players watched as the coaching staff publicly flagged Roman Anthony’s defensive fundamentals as a slight to the front office. They saw teammates asked to switch positions on the fly. They witnessed Cora trying to win baseball games while benching the team’s top prospects. In the front office, scouts were fired over slights, veteran leaders with deep organizational trust were iced out, and the communication from Breslow dried up. According to multiple sources, Devers was also upset when the rookie Campbell volunteered to play first base this season — interpreting it as a slight to his own stature.
In the end, though, Devers was still hitting and was ready to move past the early-season drama. Breslow saw things differently, saw the slugger as a problem that needed to be solved. For him, the trust was gone. And now, so is Devers.
Maybe this will work out for the Red Sox. Maybe Kyle Harrison becomes an ace, Jordan Hicks finds another gear and James Tibbs III turns into an every-day outfielder. But in the hours since the trade, that possibility has felt secondary to what it revealed: A franchise that claims to be building something stable keeps unraveling when the pressure rises.
Judge has received 1,568,527 votes thus far through Phase 1 of voting, according to MLB. If that lead holds, he’d be the first player to finish as the top All-Star vote-getter in consecutive years since Alex Rodriguez in 2007-08. Ohtani has 1,398,771 votes and could certainly overtake Judge before this phase of voting concludes at 12 p.m. ET June 26.
The leading vote-getters for the American and National League at the conclusion of Phase 1 will automatically earn starting spots in the All-Star lineups, bypassing the next round of voting.
Here are the current leaders in MLB All-Star voting by position:
American League
C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners 1B: Paul Goldschmidt, Yankees 2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers 3B: José Ramírez, Guardians SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics OF: Mike Trout, Angels OF: Riley Greene, Tigers OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles
Ohtani is one of five National League players with more than one million votes, along with Dodgers teammates Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong and Francisco Lindor of the Mets. The only other American League player passed one million votes is the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, who is tied with Judge for the MLB lead in home runs at 26.
The Dodgers have the most players leading All-Star voting at their position, with catcher Smith, first baseman Freeman and outfielder Hernández joining Ohtani. The Yankees, Tigers and Cubs each have two players among the current lineups based on voting.
Voting totals for the top five players at each position are available at MLB.com. The next phase of voting will go from June 30 to July 2, when starters will be announced. The remainder of the MLB All-Star rosters will be revealed July 6.
The 2025 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 15.
Judge has received 1,568,527 votes thus far through Phase 1 of voting, according to MLB. If that lead holds, he’d be the first player to finish as the top All-Star vote-getter in consecutive years since Alex Rodriguez in 2007-08. Ohtani has 1,398,771 votes and could certainly overtake Judge before this phase of voting concludes at 12 p.m. ET June 26.
The leading vote-getters for the American and National League at the conclusion of Phase 1 will automatically earn starting spots in the All-Star lineups, bypassing the next round of voting.
Here are the current leaders in MLB All-Star voting by position:
American League
C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners 1B: Paul Goldschmidt, Yankees 2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers 3B: José Ramírez, Guardians SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics OF: Mike Trout, Angels OF: Riley Greene, Tigers OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles
Ohtani is one of five National League players with more than one million votes, along with Dodgers teammates Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong and Francisco Lindor of the Mets. The only other American League player passed one million votes is the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, who is tied with Judge for the MLB lead in home runs at 26.
The Dodgers have the most players leading All-Star voting at their position, with catcher Smith, first baseman Freeman and outfielder Hernández joining Ohtani. The Yankees, Tigers and Cubs each have two players among the current lineups based on voting.
Voting totals for the top five players at each position are available at MLB.com. The next phase of voting will go from June 30 to July 2, when starters will be announced. The remainder of the MLB All-Star rosters will be revealed July 6.
The 2025 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 15.